Beautiful, but way out of our league…
About seven years ago, when Kathy was pregnant with Colin and we were just beginning to contemplate what we’ve done with our house today, we decided to be a bit bold and contact a couple who had a house that we were absolutely in love with.
We had originally seen the place sometime around 1990, when we were getting ready to buy the Mountain Lane property. At that time we didn’t know it was for sale and frankly, there was no way we could have bought the house. It was completely unlivable, had no furnace, and was literally falling into the ground. Basically, it would have required a fat wad of cash in order for us to purchase it: a fat wad we just didn’t have. But it was an amazingly beautiful piece of property. Almost 8 acres, two ponds, a trout stream, and waterwheel. It was also rumored that the stones used to create the bridge that crossed the stream to the house were the same ones used to create the bridges that crossed the Taconic and NYS Thruway. They were Robert Moses specials.
In 1995 the Shewbrooks bought the house and began to renovate it. We found out about it when they had an article on the work they’d done in the Poughkeepsie Journal. We tucked the information away for future reference.
By 1998 our house was bursting at the seams. Three children, two adults, 825 square feet, and even that was a bit of a stretch. We loved our piece of property, but it was clear that something had to give and there was only one piece of property that we’d seen that rivaled the one we were living on: the Shewbrooks’ House.
After a little detective work we were able to get the Shewbrooks’ phone number and street address. (This was pre-911 addressing in our area and the Shewbrooks’ phone # was unlisted.) We wrote them a letter saying that if they had any plans to sell the house we’d be interested in buying it.
The Shewbrooks graciously responded to our letter, gave us a call and invited us to come and see the house. We dropped the girls off at a sitter (Colin still enjoying the coziness of Kathy’s tummy) and headed to the house for a tour. The Shewbrooks were wonderful. They spent over two hours with us, showing Kathy and me every nook and cranny of the house and taking us for a walk around the entire property. We fell in absolute and complete love, although it was pretty clear that if we were ever to buy the house we would have to add a room or two as bedrooms for the children. As it stood, the Shewbrooks weren’t selling at the moment and probably wouldn’t be for several more years. But they loved the idea of someone contacting them about buying the house.
Four years later we were at world’s end. Our tiny little house was now much too tiny for five people. We hadn’t really found any other piece of property that we cared for anywhere in Dutchess County. We were thinking of rebuilding our house, but the thought scared us and so, once again, the Shewbrooks’ house came to mind. Kathy gave them a call and told them that, once again we were thinking about their house and that we were in the process of making some decisions with regard to our living situation. Mrs. Shewbrooks told Kathy that they too were preparing to make some changes, Mr. Shewbrooks would be retiring soon, and that they would get back to us with a price.
We were ELATED! To get a feel for how much they might come back with we started scanning real estate listings in the area and tried to get a grip on recent home sales. We also got information on assessed value of houses in the area. The numbers were high, but not insane. We figured we could stretch ourselves and make the purchase and then work our tails off to knock down the principal and refinance a couple of years later. Then came a call from the Shewbrooks. Their number—a little over a million dollars—gave us an instant indication of what direction we were going to have to take.
After church today we decided to take a little mosey past the Shewbrooks’ house just for a little bit of closure and to see if we were still in love, although obviously out of the market. As we rounded the corner we saw a For Sale sign sitting outside their house and another sign saying that it would be open for viewing between 1-4 pm. We were floored. We made plans to come back and see the house that day.
We questioned ourselves all the way home. What would we do if the price they’d originally offered was just too high? What if it was now within reach? What would we do now that we’d spent the last 2+ years planning and building our house?
At 1:30 we came and spent over an hour at the house, walking around the property, enjoying the stream and ponds, looking in every room, and taking a little more critical notice of work that would have to be done in order for us to really live there. The property remains stunning. The house, adorable. It’s truly an amazing and wonderful place. It’s also miles away from grocery stores, and dance classes, and soccer fields. The house would also need some changes to really suit our needs. The laundry room is tiny and miles away from where it needs to be. The house, while it does have some wonderful views, does not take advantage of the property the way we’d really like it to. In short, the house is beautiful from the outside, but not nearly what we needed, or designed into our new house, from the inside.
Given the means would we buy the house if it were $500-600 thousand? Sounds insane, but, yeah, we might. Of course, anything is possible when you’re talking about dream numbers. The reality-check price? $1.4 million. Well more than we can even begin to dream of. But we’re thankful for this lovely little place nonetheless and we’re thankful to the Shewbrooks for indulging two starry-eyed little kids whose desires seriously exceeded their means. It was the Shewbrooks and their lovely house that pushed us to pursue the path we did.
Have a look at the Shewbrooks’ House here. If you decide to buy it, feel free to invite us over for dinner sometime.
We’d love to visit.